At the end of the 19th century, the Chinese capital of Beijing was described by travelers as an architectural marvel filled with thousand-year-old temples and a variety of shrines and holy buildings. Nearly all of them, however, were destroyed or severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1967) when Chinese leader Mao Zedong promoted state atheism and carried out antireligious campaigns.
Even before the Cultural Revolution, local religious buildings had been under siege during the Boxer Rebellion and other local uprisings. Today, only a fraction of Beijing’s religious heritage is still part of the city’s landscape.
Among these few buildings that survived is Beijing’s Church of the Saviour, whose origins reach back to the first Jesuit visits to China in the 18th century.
Built in 1887 by Bishop Alphonse Favier, a French missionary and architect, the church stands on a former venue established by Jesuit priests in 1703 on land that was bestowed by the Kangxi Emperor to the Jesuits, after the ruler was cured from malaria by two Jesuit doctors in 1693. Favier opted for a Neo-Gothic design using cast iron and gray marble that resembled the color of many buildings of old Beijing.
The Neo-Gothic design selected by Favier mixed with local architectural sensibilities, with the result being a unique blend of Gothic and Chinese designs known as “Indigenous Gothic.“
Known informally as “Northern Church” – also called the Xishiku Church or “Beitang” in Chinese – the Church of the Saviour was built in the Xicheng District after the original location near the Forbidden City was reclaimed by Chinese authorities. Soon after its construction, however, the church started to be affected by China’s tumultuous 20th-century history.
For a few months during the year 1900, it was taken over by Boxer rebels during the Boxer Uprising (1899-1901), a rebellion of Chinese citizens with strong anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian positions.
During the same period, the Church of the Saviour was also attacked by the Manchus, a group of rebels belonging to the Manchu ethnic group, with Bishop Favier stepping in to defend the church from the attacks.
Favier’s successful defense, during a rebellion that decimated chapels around the city and cost the lives of thousands of people (including about 400 parishioners of the church), was described by historians as “nothing short of a miracle.”
During China’s Cultural Revolution, when places of worship were purposefully attacked and destroyed as part of a campaign to erase religion and promote atheism, the Beijing Church of the Saviour was spared from destruction and turned into an electronics factory. Similarly, during the 1970s Deng Xiaoping’s rule, the church was utilized as a school.
It was only in 1985 that it was finally restored to its former religious function. Today, the Church of the Saviour stands as Beijing’s largest Catholic church, offering Mass in Mandarin, English, and French to serve local and foreign Catholics alike.
To visit the Church of Our Saviour, take subway line 4 to Xisi Station. Get out at exit D and walk about 1,000 yards to Xishiku Church.
And today we celebrate...